Almost everyone today communicates using more than one communication technology or medium multiple times per day. Communication media include electronic mail (“email”) messaging, Short Messaging Service (“SMS”) messaging, voice messaging, and more. Users receive and send messages over a variety of wired and wireless networks via a variety of devices, such as desktop computers, wired phones, wireless devices (e.g., phones and personal digital assistants (“PDAs”)), and more.
Currently it is possible to receive emails on a mobile phone device, such as a BlackBerry®. It is also possible to receive notification of voicemails via email on any email capable device. In some systems, email notification includes a playable audio file (such as a WAV file, for example) of the message so the user may hear the message without calling in to a voicemail system. This voicemail/email integration is available to individual users through commercial providers who may redirect voice callers from the users “old” phone number to their system. Alternatively, some providers give the user a different number to be used for voicemail-to-email processing. In addition, complete integration of communication media within an enterprise is available from Adomo, Inc. For example, the Adomo “Unified Communications” solutions integrate tightly with existing enterprise communications and data management systems to provide employees with seamless access to messages of all types on all devices, no matter where the employee are physically located.
As capable devices and systems proliferate, users increasingly demand that their messages be readily, if not instantly, available on all of their devices, regardless of the type or source of the message. At the same time, the ubiquity of highly capable communication devices just seems to raise message recipients' expectations that their messages will be very promptly received, understood, and appropriately responded to. Even though users have more and faster access than ever to voicemail and email, there are still some areas in which the time for apprehending and/or responding to messages can be relatively slow. For example, a user may receive an email notification that a voicemail has been received, but may be unable to access and/or listen to the voicemail right away. If the user is in a meeting it may be acceptable to glance at his or her device to see what kind of message has been received, but it is not acceptable to listen to a voicemail. In some cases, the identity of the voicemail sender may be known from the notification, which might provide some level of information regarding the urgency of the message. In many cases, there is no information other than the notification itself.
To eliminate the inconvenience and delay caused by having to listen to voicemails, methods have been developed to provide voicemail transcriptions to a user's device (such as a BlackBerry®, for example) instead of an audio data file or a link to an audio data file. For example, Spinvox® Ltd. offers a voicemail transcription service that requires a mobile network provider to install particular voicemail software. Voicemail data is sent by the network provider to a transcriber who plays and transcribes the voice message, then sends the text of the transcription to the user's device. This method has the disadvantage of lacking complete integration with the user's email system. One part of the communication is the original voice call, which is disconnected from the later email in which the transcribed text is sent. Thus, the entire history of the communication is not readily available for archiving or audit purposes, for example. Another disadvantage is that each voicemail is treated in the same way, whether or not any user benefit is derived from having the transcription performed.
Another conventional example of voicemail transcription is provided by SimulScribe™, Inc. SimulScribe™ provides a service that includes redirecting the user's callers to an intermediary voicemail system that performs transcription of all voicemails and forwards the text result to the user's phone. This method has the same disadvantages previously mentioned. Other disadvantages of various prior methods include a requirement for the user to give callers a different number in order to receive transcription, and the lack of privacy or confidentiality guarantees to callers who may not wish their voicemails to be transcribed, or may wish to control the disposition of transcripts.